I’ll take Phoning It In for 500, Alex.
We’ve been spoiled by Pixar into thinking that animated films aren’t just for kids anymore but Adam Sandler wants to remind you that, indeed, some of them are.
Hotel Transylvania 2 isn’t offensive, it’s just a throwback to that old style animation where a cartoon is just a babysitter for the kiddos. It’s full of monsters so colourful and appealing they could advertise sugary breakfast cereal. The movie relies on sight gags and corny jokes that just don’t cut it for the over-10 crowd.
Dracula is back, the proprietor of a high-end hotel catering exclusively to monster guests. His daughter Mavis (Selena Gomez) has just married her human sweetheart Jonathan (Adam Samberg) and they’ve got a sweet little baby boy, the apple of Dracula’s eye. The only thing is, nobody knows yet whether the baby will turn out to be vampire or human. There’s a slight allegory here, something about “mixed families” but it’s not exactly groundbreaking stuff.
Sandler brings along all his old buddies to flesh-out the awesome voice cast: SNL alums, Chris Parnell, David Spade, Molly Shannon, Dana Carvey, Chris 
Kattan, and Jon Lovitz; Sandler mainstays Kevin James, Steve Buscemi, Nick Swardson, and Allen Covert; and a rather inspired addition – Mel Brooks as Vlad, grumpy great-grandpa who doesn’t approve of vampire-human relations. My favourite of course, are Nick Offerman and Megan Mullaly, who together voice Jonathan’s super-square parents who get thrown into a crash-course in monsterdom when their son introduces them to vampiric in-laws and a “half-blood” grandson.
Offerman and Mullaly are a real-life couple who met while doing a play. He was a lowly carpenter, and she was a TV star still in the throes of her Will & Grace fame. Over the course of their relationship, she’s seen his star rise as well due to a similarly iconic role on Parks & Recreation. We Assholes were lucky enough to catch them doing another play toget
her, this time on Broadway, called Annapurna. It was a simple, 2-person play, deeply intense and emotional, and a real joy to watch two master thespians up close and personal. It’s clear that they love working together, even if it’s on a shitty kids’ movie.
Well, I’m saying shitty because I was bored by it. But the producers of Hotel Transylvania don’t care what I think. They didn’t make it for me. And if you 
ask a kid, chances are they loved it. The sequel was a veritable monster at the box office, if you’ll forgive the pun, setting records as the biggest September opening, the biggest Sandler opening, and the biggest for Sony Pictures Animation as well. It grossed $469 million worldwide, and it just beat out Inside Out at the Kids’ Choice Awards this weekend. So hell yes there’s a #3 coming down the pipes.
Bottom line: if you run out of Paw Patrol, this movie will make a nice substitute for your single-digit-aged kids. If you hope for more than just fart jokes in your animated movies, maybe Zootopia is your better choice – though I’m not guaranteeing it’s fart-free….in fact, I distinctly remember a certain “play on words” if you can still call it that when the word in question is duty.
ASSHOLES WATCHING MOVIES 
There is something about Adam Sandler… ugh. I just can’t stand him 😦
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Ditto, fir me too!! I can’t handle him on any level
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I’m with you, don’t get him at all.
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My kids loved the first one, I’m sure I’ll be seeing this one too. Good review!
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I don’t remember the first one being all that good. I’ve got nephews in the right age range, so I’ve seen it. Perhaps they won’t care about the second.
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I thought the first was done very well, but haven’t seen the second yet. Doesn’t sound like it lived up to the first one!
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It was a horrible film which didn’t engage me for a second. Plus all the Sony product placement looked so…eh…out of place.
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Haha, love this review! I actually kind of liked the first one, so I was looking forward to this but it was just a big pile of meh. This was just a few weeks after watching Inside Out as well so it didn’t stand a chance in my books really.
– Allie
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It was a chance for Adam Sandler to redeem himself as I didn’t have to see him making an arse out of acting. But low and behold, he failed miserably. I simply loved Megan Mullaly’s voice work, as she made the movie tolerable. Oh and that mountain of goo; he was pretty good too.
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I actually didn’t mind this. My kid really enjoyed it, and I had a better time sitting through this than I did Inside Out (I know, minority) But you’re right about it not being anything special. It’s merely there, but at least it’s not bad.
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My 58 year old hubby loves the first one which makes me smile inside since he always claims he is not one for animated films. We have not seen this one but will.
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I actually related to the grandparenting parts, the inter-human kind thoughts of a vampire with a human and marriage with a “mixed” baby was cute. My two grandsons were 10 and 6, they roared at a few of the jokes. I am surprised at the fun feeling I felt as I left, nearly bouyant. 🙂
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I liked the first well enough, but this was terrible. True, it was certainly more “just for kids” than the first, however, it failed at that. The reason I say that is because it botched the whole “message” it was going for. It undermines the acceptance of mixed families thing by…SPOILER ALERT…making sure the kid is one of “us” (vampire) and doesn’t have to be raised around “them” (humans) except for occasional visits with the grandparents which is all Drac wanted in the first place. So much for progress.
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Sadly, I expected this film to disappoint. If only I were under the age of 10 again. Then I may have felt differently about it.
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Good to know, maybe if I get asked to see it I’ll try to re-direct to Zootopia. I could use that under-10 line. She’s turning 10 this week and quite into being in double digits.
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